Killing Civilians for sport???

[Deluge Of Sound]

Don't know if anyone else saw the Washington Post article today, but, uh...

Whiskey.
Tango.
Foxtrot.

AT JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, WASH. The U.S. soldiers hatched a plan as simple as it was savage: to randomly target and kill an Afghan civilian, and to get away with it.

For weeks, according to Army charging documents, rogue members of a platoon from the 5th Stryker Combat Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, floated the idea. Then, one day last winter, a solitary Afghan man approached them in the village of La Mohammed Kalay. The "kill team" activated the plan.

One soldier created a ruse that they were under attack, tossing a fragmentary grenade on the ground. Then others opened fire.

According to charging documents, the unprovoked, fatal attack on Jan. 15 was the start of a months-long shooting spree against Afghan civilians that resulted in some of the grisliest allegations against American soldiers since the U.S. invasion in 2001. Members of the platoon have been charged with dismembering and photographing corpses, as well as hoarding a skull and other human bones.

The subsequent investigation has raised accusations about whether the military ignored warnings that the out-of-control soldiers were committing atrocities. The father of one soldier said he repeatedly tried to alert the Army after his son told him about the first killing, only to be rebuffed.

Two more slayings would follow. Military documents allege that five members of the unit staged a total of three murders in Kandahar province between January and May. Seven other soldiers have been charged with crimes related to the case, including hashish use, attempts to impede the investigation and a retaliatory gang assault on a private who blew the whistle.

Army officials have not disclosed a motive for the killings and macabre behavior. Nor have they explained how the attacks could have persisted without attracting scrutiny. They declined to comment on the case beyond the charges that have been filed, citing the ongoing investigation.

But a review of military court documents and interviews with people familiar with the investigation suggest the killings were committed essentially for sport by soldiers who had a fondness for hashish and alcohol.

The accused soldiers, through attorneys and family members, deny wrongdoing. But the case has already been marked by a cycle of accusations and counter-accusations among the defendants as they seek to pin the blame on each other, according to documents and interviews.

The Army has scheduled pre-trial hearings in the case this fall at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, home of the Stryker brigade. (The unit was renamed the 2nd Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, when it returned from Afghanistan in July.) Military officials say privately that they worry the hearings will draw further attention to the case, with photos and other evidence prompting anger among the Afghan civilians whose support is critical to the fight against the Taliban.

Source & more info: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...803935_pf.html

[XigXag]

Hmm, Ambush doesn't qualify as 'sport' in my book. Its simple cowardly murder, using a war zone to cover it up.
It shouldnt even be a challenge,and these tards got caught.

[TOOL460002]

Originally Posted by XigXag

Hmm, Ambush doesn't qualify as 'sport' in my book. Its simple cowardly murder, using a war zone to cover it up.
It shouldnt even be a challenge,and these tards got caught.

yeah.. i call bs. you definitely need to do a "you got five minutes 'till we come chasin'" sort of thing for it to really qualify.

[Unrepresented]

Originally Posted by XigXag

Hmm, Ambush doesn't qualify as 'sport' in my book. Its simple cowardly murder, using a war zone to cover it up.
It shouldnt even be a challenge,and these tards got caught.

That's more or less my thoughts on hunting in general.

[bassrique]

This doesn't look good, but let's wait until more facts are in.

Originally Posted by Unrepresented

That's more or less my thoughts on hunting in general.

Do you eat meat?

[i_got_a_mohawk]

If this is true, it's sickening.

Afghanistan have a death penalty yeah? Certainly wouldn't shed a tear over these guys being on the recieving end of it (if they did do what they are suspected of doing).

Military personnel like this tarnish the reputation of everyone who wears the uniform.

[Deluge Of Sound]

Originally Posted by bassrique

This doesn't look good, but let's wait until more facts are in.

I suggest reading the article: at this point, we're looking at charges placed on these soldiers by the army itself, not wild reports from the press.

The Army has released few details about the slaying but has charged Gibbs, Morlock and Spec. Michael S. Wagnon II of Las Vegas with murder.

Wagnon has also been charged with possessing "a skull taken from an Afghan person's corpse." He allegedly took the head sometime during January or February 2010, but court documents do not specify whether it belonged to the Afghan he is charged with killing.

[sarcastro83]

Originally Posted by bassrique

This doesn't look good, but let's wait until more facts are in.

Agreed... this does look super bad. Yikes.

[Disraeli Gears]

Wow. Looks like one of the people involved is from my town. Glad I don't know him . This is seriously sick.

[Unrepresented]

Originally Posted by bassrique

Do you eat meat?

Yup. I use petroleum products too.

[XigXag]

I eat only farm raised vagetarians.
Hunting wild vegetarians is cruel.


I came to edit that typo, but I just cant do it. Its better the way it is.

[Truktek2]

If God didn't want us to eat animals why did he make them so tasty?

[Thunderscreech]

This is bad business all around.

[bassrique]

Originally Posted by Deluge Of Sound

I suggest reading the article: at this point, we're looking at charges placed on these soldiers by the army itself, not wild reports from the press.

I can think of more than one case where the government [Army, Navy] had the facts wrong and the cases were dismissed.

Originally Posted by Unrepresented

Yup. I use petroleum products too.

Hunting is less cruel than a slaughterhouse.

[Unrepresented]

Originally Posted by bassrique

Hunting is less cruel than a slaughterhouse.

Neither seem very sporting.

[Super Dwarf]

i hope our soldiers involved are tried for war crimes and shot in a firing squad. letting something like this slid with a slap on the wrist and sent to prison is not enough. if want to claim we are there in another country killing people to bring democracy then we need to stump our own people and not just our enemy.

[Deathblade Eric]

If true, they're sick ***** that should be "given to the women" as I believe the phrase has it.

One thing in the article made me go though...

But a review of military court documents and interviews with people familiar with the investigation suggest the killings were committed essentially for sport by soldiers who had a fondness for hashish and alcohol.

Now... I've had a tad of experience with the combination of hash & booze (usually a good Cabernet Sauvignon), & have never once felt inclined to go on a killing frenzy... quite the opposite in fact.

Powdered pharmaceuticals & firewater though... that's a different story.

[XansNiceSweater]

Originally Posted by i_got_a_mohawk

Military personnel like this tarnish the reputation of everyone who wears the uniform.

this. These guys are a disgrace to their country, and nothing of value would be lost if they mysteriously vanished in Kabul.

[syciprider]

Anyone who runs is a VC...

[Super Dwarf]

anyone who doesnt run is a well trained vc